I added a new friend to my JibberJobber contacts a few weeks ago as we e-mailed each other back and forth about various things. As I usually do, I began to try and learn more about him (without asking him), and was amazed at what I could find. Not really because of the information that I found, rather all the different ways that he made the information available.
It was clear to me that Thomas Clifford (aka, Director Tom) really does get this cool technology, and is using it to quantify his personal brand. Let’s dive right in:
The e-mail signature – every time he communicates with someone they can easily learn more about him. Check out the different sites that he takes advantage of. Each of these four tools have a different purpose, and they complement one another quite nicely.
The blog – I’ve gained a reputation of being one to say “YOU MUST HAVE A BLOG” – I’m not sure why I have that reputation 😉 There are lots of benefits, ranging from better opportunity to really quantify your breadth and depth to incredible SEO, and one that I haven’t mentioned before (I think): building a community. A blog is a perfect tool for Thomas, but not the only perfect tool. The only thing I will say about his blog is that it adheres to all of the suggestions that I’ve mentioned here before – it is an excellent example to follow in many ways.
The Squidoo Lens – I’ve seen a number of poorly-prepared Squidoo lenses, and have not featured any in the You Get It list of winners. Tom’s lens has a bunch of things in it that impress me – lots of information sharing, integration with the blog, multiple areas to add comments (build community and credibility), recommended reading… this lens is full of meat and content, not fluff.
The LinkedIn Profile – Thomas has a terrific, rich profile on LinkedIn. There are two things that kind of jump out at me:
- Use of bullets. As I read through the long profile he has made it easy for me to digest all of the information because of the way he has formatted it. There are hundreds of other profiles I’ve read that need to incorporate bullets the way Thomas does.
- Name of his high school. If you look at his picture and accomplishments you’ll know that it wasn’t yesterday that he graduated from high school! But he lists it on his profile (not many people do). I’ve recently heard a lot of buzz about people wanting to have a high school section on LinkedIn so others can find them easier. Instead of asking for it, Thomas just made his own. It’s characteristic of the amount and quality of information that he makes available to you, the reader.
After spending just a few minutes on any of these sites here are two brand images that I walk away with:
Tom Clifford – Corporate Video Filmmaker (award winning, documentary filmmaker)
Tom Clifford – “corporate-conscious documentary filmmaker – story katalyst – architect of possibilities”
Also, when I read through his material I get excited about getting my own film – I don’t know much about the process, or how to start or anything like that. But I have confidence that Tom knows just about everything. The way he presents himself online makes me comfortable that I’m going to end up with an excellent product that he puts his heart into.
On his blog he has a link to “Let’s see that again!” which makes me think of something that connects with the audience – that is exactly what I want!
He also has a link to “Your story. Your heroes. Your conversation.” which makes me think that working with Tom will not take away from what I want, rather he will be the great facilitator to ensure what is in my heart and mind is what ends up on the video.
Thomas Clifford – you have done an excellent job with quantifying your personal brand through various technologies! You join a special group of professionals and will get a coveted link from my monthly winner’s blogroll area (on the left), six months of premium JibberJobber (you can transfer this to someone else since you took advantage of the lifetime upgrade :)), and a cyber-high five! Congratulations!
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Hey Jason, another great choice for a winner. But, where is your cool “winner’s badge?”
Jason, I wrote an article about email signatures being a great free method of viral marketing – you can read the article Simple, free, viral – Internet marketing for everyone on my blog. Hope that some of your reader’s find it useful.
I checked out Tom’s Squidoo lens, and it IS great! Gave him a five-star rating!
Thanks for sharing. Best wishes for a wonderful day!
Carl, I actually sent an e-mail to Tom with a link to the badges, which you can find on the top menu under “Pages” – the link is here.
Thanks for the link Jason. I just like seeing it on your post when you annouce the winner. 😉
Hi Jason!
Thanks for the feature and the award!
I really dig your material and I wish you nothing but the very best for you and your crew at Jibber Jobber!
Be well and take care,
Thomas R. Clifford
Corporate Filmmaker
Tom – well-deserved. You’ve done a lot of work and a great example for those that want to quantify their personal brand!
For those wondering what the comments are about the image, I just changed the post to include the award image (yes, it is quite cool :p).